Album review: Hikaru Utada - This is the one

Hikaru Utada record another English language album. I honestly didn't think she'd bother given the commercial failure of Exodus. But she has more in her for another English language album and Def Jam is up for keeping her on the roster to put it out. So who are us Hikki fans to argue!?

English albums give Hikaru a musical outlet to do all that stuff that she feels she's unable to do for her Japanese albums. Whilst Exodus was a drastic departure for Hikaru in terms of...well, everything — This is the one features a little more of what we've heard from Hikaru's Japanese releases. But we also get some surprises too, in the form of full on club bangers. "On and on" caught me off guard. Hikaru works a style she hasn't touched since her second Japanese album, Distance; taking what could've been a run of the mill club record and adding twists via a vocal performance which consists of yodelling and some on-brand uniquely-Hikaru lyrics, such as 'Honeys if you're gay, burn it up, like a gay parade'. I love how she took a line like that and threw it in a song like it's nothing, which it is. It's nothing. But many other US artists would be wary of even considering using such a line in one of their songs. The best way to describe "On and on" would be Heart station's "Celebrate" with more of an R&B twist. "Dirty desire" sees Hikaru let the freak all the way out, with lyrics which include 'Working a 9 to 5, I'm thinking 6 and 9's' and 'I don't want just a bite, I want the full size'. The song clip-clops along with a sense of urgency, which comes courtesy producer Tricky Stewart, who works a similar selection of sounds which ran through his biggest production to date Rihanna's "Umbrella" and also the single that never was, "Breakin' dishes". Def Jam either need to make this a single or issue this to clubs as a buzz track. It'd go down well.

The other uptempos aren't quite as good though. "Automatic part II" doesn't hold a candle to the OG "Automatic" which featured on Hikaru's record breaking debut album First love. The song is awful. It sounds like a fan remixed the theme song to Moesha. Badly. Hikaru should've kept the beat the same as the original and just re-worked the lyrics into English. "Poppin'" sounds like a song from a Nickelodeon detective show. Two of the absolute worst songs on the album.

Hikaru treads more familiar sounding territory with all of the Stargate productions. "Come back to me" had me worried, because it saw Hikaru jumping on the same bandwagon everybody else is one with these templated and over-exposed Stargate songs. But thankfully the other Stargate productions are far more unique and capture more of the Hikaru Utada's that fans know and adore, whilst giving her that pop and R&B sensibility and accessibility that she seems to be striving for with this album. "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence - FYI" sounds like something you'd expect to find on one of Hikaru's Japanese releases. A brilliantly quirky song. "Apple & cinnamon" is aptly short 'n' sweet. A great song which would well as a single. "This one (Crying like a child)" isn't a song that grabbed me at first, but soon held me a choke hold and wouldn't let go after repeated listens. A really nice song about a complicated love, strewn with a heart felt vocal and a sound that feels big, yet grounded. Another potential single. I was actually surprised to find that Stargate produced it, as it sounds like it was written by The Dream and produced by Tricky, as the chorus is very "Umbrella" like. "Me muero" has Stargate utilising the drum pattern which has featured in many a Stargate production from "Irreplaceable" onward. I've been on a one man mission to have the drum pattern banned, because it truly has been overused. At the very least, every other aspect of "Me muero" is far removed from "Irreplaceable", "Go on girl", "With you" and all the other re-hashes Stargate are responsible for. The song takes on a 60s lounge feel and it shouldn't work so well, but it does. Hikaru sells the song with charm and quirk in spades, and some cool ad-libs towards the end which see her tapping into a tone and vibe that I never knew she had in her. Not my favourite song on the album, and the lyrics are a bit too weird at times, even for her. But it's a song that I do think is nice and speaks far more to the type of oddball songwriter that she is more than some of the other songs.

The production on This is the one is incredibly polished, something that Exodus's wasn't, with the exception of the Timbaland productions. Whilst the Tricky Stewart productions are well produced, they pale in comparison to the Stargate contributions. Tricky's style doesn't always run in line with what you'd expect from Hikaru, and not always in a good way. "Taking my money back" sounds like a left over Mariah Carey song. Hikaru never should've gone with it, because the sound just doesn't suit her and she sounds as though she's struggling to sing on beat. I was sceptical initially of Stargate handling so much of the album, but I'm now wishing they'd done more of it. Their productions are definitely the highlights. The great thing about the Stargate productions is that not only do they they sound very much like Hikaru Utada songs, but lyrically they're incredibly candid and feel more akin to songs she would have written for a Japanese album. Vocally Hikaru sounds nice and not like a warbling child as she did on the majority of Exodus. The harmonies are tight and well layered and her ad-libs are nice. Ad-libbing isn't something Hikaru does often when singing in Japanese, so it's nice to hear her go there with them on this album.

Whilst This is the one isn't as refined as some of Hikaru Utada's Japanese releases, it at least showcases her to Western audiences in a much more commercial and far more accessible light than Exodus did. But this comes at the expense of a diluted form of Hikaru Utada to that of what her core fans of her Japanese releases have enjoyed for years. And for this reason, This is the one comes up short. The songs here which are good, are really good. But the album as a whole is pretty lacklustre. 

It's not bad. But it's not great either.

VERDICT: CHILLIN' AND FLOSSIN'

Album highlights:
■ On and on
■ Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence - FYI 🏆 J's fave
■ Apple & cinnamon
■ This one (Crying like a child)
■ Dirty desire
■ Me muero